Evaluating simplified chemical mechanisms within present-day simulations of the Community Earth System Model version 1.2 with CAM4 (CESM1.2 CAM-chem): MOZART-4 vs. Reduced Hydrocarbon vs. Super-Fast chemistry

Brown-Steiner, Benjamin; Selin, Noelle E.; Prinn, Ronald; Tilmes, Simone; Emmons, Louisa; Lamarque, Jean-François; Cameron-Smith, Philip

doi:10.5194/gmd-11-4155-2018

Title: Evaluating simplified chemical mechanisms within present-day simulations of the Community Earth System Model version 1.2 with CAM4 (CESM1.2 CAM-chem): MOZART-4 vs. Reduced Hydrocarbon vs. Super-Fast chemistry

Journal Article · 15 October 2018 · Geoscientific Model Development (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4155-2018 · OSTI ID:1477802

Brown-Steiner, Benjamin;

; Prinn, Ronald; Tilmes, Simone;

;

Abstract. While state-of-the-art complex chemical mechanisms expand our understanding of atmospheric chemistry, their sheer size and computational requirements often limit simulations to short lengths or ensembles to only a few members. Here we present and compare three 25-year present-day offline simulations with chemical mechanisms of different levels of complexity using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) Version 1.2 CAM-chem (CAM4): the Model for Ozone and Related Chemical Tracers, version 4 (MOZART-4) mechanism, the Reduced Hydrocarbon mechanism, and the Super-Fast mechanism. We show that, for most regions and time periods, differences in simulated ozone chemistry between these three mechanisms are smaller than the model–observation differences themselves. The MOZART-4 mechanism and the Reduced Hydrocarbon are in close agreement in their representation of ozone throughout the troposphere during all time periods (annual, seasonal, and diurnal). While the Super-Fast mechanism tends to have higher simulated ozone variability and differs from the MOZART-4 mechanism over regions of high biogenic emissions, it is surprisingly capable of simulating ozone adequately given its simplicity. We explore the trade-offs between chemical mechanism complexity and computational cost by identifying regions where the simpler mechanisms are comparable to the MOZART-4 mechanism and regions where they are not. The Super-Fast mechanism is 3 times as fast as the MOZART-4 mechanism, which allows for longer simulations or ensembles with more members that may not be feasible with the MOZART-4 mechanism given limited computational resources.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE; USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC52-07NA27344

OSTI ID:: 1477802

Report Number(s):: LLNL-JRNL-744047

Journal Information:: Geoscientific Model Development (Online), Journal Name: Geoscientific Model Development (Online) Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 11; ISSN 1991-9603

Publisher:: Copernicus Publications, EGUCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: Germany

Language:: English

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